Fed up with engine stumbling

tsi200sx · Feb 5th, 2003, 10:41 AM

Okay, I'm getting frustrated with the stumbling and skipping I have been experiencing with my 1988 200SX SE V6 (S12 Silvia w/ VG30E) for like 2 months now. I've been putting it off taking in because of my temporarily tight financial situation. Well, that's not going to get better for at least another month and I can't live with this skipping that long. The engine is missing and stumbling on low-rpm acceleration (between 2500 and 3000 rpm).

I am determined to find the problem myself. I plan on renting a timing light this weekend. The car is pinging on acceleration, too, which suggests to me the ignition timing is off, and I had the timing belt replaced last summer, so the valve timing should have been set then and should be fine.

I'm also going to go through the full ECCS diagnostic procedures as described in my Chilton's manual for confirming the working status of my emissions and fuel control components.

Does anyone have any more ideas on things I could do at home to try and find this problem? Would the shop that did the timing belt have reset the ignition timing as well as the valve timing? And as far as checking the timing goes, I've seen it done but never done it myself, are there any tips anyone can give me? I'm going to whip this thing or die trying!

tsi200sx · Feb 5th, 2003, 02:37 PM

I just realized that around the time this started happening I had replaced my idle air controller and adjust my idle, since it was idling at around 1000 rpm with no accesories on. I adjusted it so it idles around 700 rpm with nothing on, then if you turn on the headlights, heat or AC it bumps up to around 1000.
This wouldn't have anything to do with the stumbling at 2500-3000 rpm, would it?